Friday, July 11, 2008

Fancy Flights!

What a day June 14th turned out to be. Fun in the sun, sunburn, smoke trails against a clear blue sky all part of the Rexburg Heritage Flight Museum free air show. I took about 700 plus pictures at the airshow as did Lyle (gotta love digital). Most of the planes were military planes, and the flying was nothing short of spectacular.

Lyle and I made it to the airport just in time to see a B-25 bomber fly over and land a short time later. Upon parking, in a location where people could walk around it and take a better look, Steve Cannon from KIDK Channel 3 got off the plane to assume his duties as MC for the show. Now, I've known Steve Cannon for more than 25 years when he was the dispatcher for Jewel Electric, just before he went to channel 3 as weatherman. So of course I had to go give him a bad time about being a celebrity and getting a free ride in the B-25. I could have had a ride for the small pittance of $350.

The opening cerimonies included three skydivers landing at the airport with the National Anthem being played. The final skydiver brought in the American Flag.

It was quiet a sight, though not as spectacular as the skydiver coming down with a giant American Flag as found on U-tube. It still was a thrill to see.

The Russian Mig, owned by John Bagley of Rexburg, was one of the planes that caught my interest. It was also one of the few we could get reasnably close to for pictures.

There were three P-51 Mustangs at the show. Just picturing one of them.

Stunt flying was in abundance, including double loops and stalls.

This guy flying about 20 feet above the runway, up side down, cuts a ribbon held between two poles, with the planes tail.

The show favorite is the Jelly Belly plane. He was doing things in a plane I've never seen before. He had his plane rigged so parts would fall off while he was flying, such as part of a wing.

If any of you remember the old MASH TV series, there was a Korean pilot in the show that would fly a plane that would just barely stay in the air. This guy made the Korean look like a good pilot.

His most amazing stunt was landing on the shortest runway in the world. It took him two tries to do it, once done he would take off from the same runway. The biggest trick in landing, was finding the runway since he couldn't see it. The whole process was done by feel.

What a great way to spend a few hours on a nice bright saturday morning.